Wilmington: Shopping, Shopping, New batteries, Alligators and Snakes

34:15.37N 79:56.87W

28th May 2015

Still 8383 Miles from Ramsgate by log.

 

            Today is Tommy’s birthday and we have decided to eat out in Wilmington tonight at a restaurant that serves Alligator satay for starters. An unusual choice but Tommy and Sue found the restaurant a few days ago and it looks like a good one so more on how that went in the next blog, my guess is that Alligator will taste like Chicken as these things tend to do.

 

 

The Birthday boy

 

            This week has been a busy one, the boat preparations are going ahead full steam and so even though Tommy and Sue are out here on holiday we have managed to do boat work each morning. Last Monday was Memorial day and so to show a bit of solidarity with our cousins across the ocean we dressed Spectra all over and I put up my RAF Yacht Club flag, very pretty she looked too and earned a lot of praise from passers by. I also took the opportunity of finally getting around to replacing my Rear Commodores pennant with a standard RTYC one, Stan officially replaced me in January so it really was about time I took it down. Truth be told it had just about frayed away and was a very sad looking scrap of cloth when it reached the deck, Tommy commented that now I definitely had no balls which just about summed it up, (yachty joke, As I never explain humour, even pretty poor humour, look up flags and pennants in Wikipedia).  

 

Spectra all flags flying

 

Anthony the 2ic of Cape Fear Marina and his wife ran an all- welcome BBQ on the office veranda on Sunday afternoon and so we packed a case or two of beer and went along to join in. It turned out to be a great day out, there was another British couple there who are getting their yacht fixed up by Bennett Brothers yard for a trip down to the Bahamas and so we discussed bilge pumps etc as the meat cooked. The food was very good and as we relaxed the conversation flowed, I got talking to Butch who is an ex US Marine Captain from the Vietnam era and served through the Tet offensive, which if you know your history was very bloody indeed. Butch is in the process of buying a boat on the marina and is bringing to market a new sailing dinghy/tender very like a Sailfish manufactured by his son Pat which looks very nice. He will be living aboard at the marina once the boat purchase goes through as even at the age of 74 he is busy working at the nearby power plant project managing a major environmental cleanup. His friend Loretta who originally hailed from New York proved to be a real find. Her sense of humour was great and she certainly got my mark pretty quickly. Loretta kindly offered to drive us down to Wrightsville beach in the week which is another example of the amazing generosity Americans show to complete strangers.

 

 

At the BBQ

Also at the BBQ

 

The marina veranda, On the left Butch and then Loretta

 

Me holding court

 

            Monday morning Tommy and myself borrowed Dan’s Jeep and found a local garage in order to fill up all of our deck containers with petrol for the generator, including the full tank on the generator that makes 130 litres of petrol stored on deck which has seriously reduced Norma’s smoking area. Once that little job was completed and everything tied down we headed into Wilmington for the day. After a lunch ashore we ended the day with sundowners in the cockpit zapping any mosquito that dared to come close with our new toy an electric tennis racquet fly zapper.  Small things please small minds I suppose but it is extremely satisfying getting one back on the mossies for a change.

 

Ali the Alligator swims by our stern, there is a lot of satay in that chap

 

 

Is it a stick, Is it a log, No it’s a reptile with big, big teeth

 

            Tuesday was spent shopping, and shopping, and shopping, and then we did a bit more shopping. First thing, the Marina manager Robert took Norma and myself along with the biggest shopping list I have seen in a while to Sam’s wholesalers so that we could benefit from his corporate card. I am not sure he realised quite what he was letting himself in for but he seemed more than happy to join in with the marathon shopping expedition as we dashed backwards and forwards around the warehouse sized building. A couple of hours later his pick up was groaning under the weight of our food stuff as he dropped us back at the marina. Tommy and Sue headed into town to do the holiday thang as Spectra was inundated with stores and the process of finding a place for everything began. Once that lot was away we borrowed Dan’s Jeep and headed for Walmarts for round two. Again two trolley loads were stuffed into the back of the Jeep along with a new American Gas bottle as we can’t get our UK bottles filled here. On the way back we passed Tommy and Sue walking up the road in the North Carolina heat but could not offer them a lift as the Jeep was filled to the rafters with shopping, I did stop and grin at them though as they trudged along in the heat, just to show solidarity you understand. Back at the marina we quickly unloaded the Jeep into the carts and then I decided it would be politic to go and pick up the wanderers but they must have had a final spurt of energy because as I approached the marina gates they were already there. I say they were there but they were actually standing on the other side of the road staring at something on the ground. Suspecting early onset of senile dementia or maybe just heat exhaustion I approached with caution so as not to spook the old folk. What had happened was that Tommy had spotted a snake on the path and shouted to Sue to watch out. With the instant reaction to a clear and concise command that one would expect from an independent woman Sue carried on and stepped on the snakes tail. Luckily the snakes reaction was to go stiff and play possum as opposed to having a bite and all was well but it could have been very different! When I arrived on the other side of the gate they were busily taking pictures of one seriously disgruntled and slightly flattened snake as it went on its way.

 

One seriously disgruntled snake escapes from under Sue’s Jimmi Choo

 

            Back on the dock side with another pile of shopping pilled high I was sure that Spectra would be in danger of sinking if we put the second load of food on board, but it all found a place and the waterline is still visible, in fact it has hardly moved to be honest, it is amazing just how much stuff you can store on this boat. All that is needed now is the final shop for fresh food over the weekend and we are good to go.

 

First load

 

Second load including 60 eggs, that should bind the crew together!

 

            The next morning over coffee as Tommy and Norma were putting the world to rights, again, an Alligator swam along the river about 20ft from the side of the boat which is always a nice way to start the day. With swimming in Cape Fear river still firmly off the agenda we gave Loretta (from the BBQ in case you haven’t been keeping up) a call to take her up on her kind offer of a lift to the beach. Loretta was more than happy to give us a lift and so at 12 O’clock she turned up in her nice new Corolla and we all piled in. Above and beyond the call of duty is all I can say about Loretta, not only did she give us a lift but she also gave us a guided tour of the area and proved to be great company along the way. After dropping us off at a pier on the beach Loretta headed back home and we had a lovely walk along the beach for about a mile to the next pier down, taking the opportunity for an Alligator free swim along the way. Although Alligator free, the swim was not without incident as the surf was pretty lively and we were all tumbled over at some point, I suppose the surfers riding the waves should have been a giveaway. Norma took several spectacular tumbles and later when drying off in the restaurants changing rooms found that she had stolen half of the beach and bought it back inside of her bikini.  Having reached the second pier we gave Loretta a call and invited her for a meal. Once we were all dried off and Loretta had arrived we had a very pleasant meal on the pier overlooking the sea and swapping pictures of families and tales of our adventures. On the way back to Spectra Loretta again gave us another guided tour of the area large parts of which I rather rudely missed as I just couldn’t keep my eyes open. Swimming, sun and beer make Paul a sleepy boy. But my sleepiness was noted by Loretta and I was given a thorough mocking along the way, all very tongue in cheek of course.

 

Wrightsville Beach

 

All in for a refreshing dip

 

And the washing machine gets turned onto full spin

 

Lunch on the Pier

 

            On our return I discovered that our batteries had been delivered and the new battery charger had also turned up, happy days new toys to play with. Norma got on with cooking our much delayed Sunday lunch (it was Wednesday) while Tommy and myself rigged a block and tackle to haul the batteries up out of the bowels of the boat. Finally with them all in the cockpit was all hands on deck to swing them over the side onto the dock using the main boom as a crane. That was a hard afternoons work and by the end of it I was stinging with both sweat and the effects of battery acid and so I needed a hose down. The old batteries are now up at the boat yard and we will bring the new ones down this morning. As the sun went down I fitted the new battery charger after having to take it apart to remove a jumper so that it will work on 240 volts, nothing is ever simple is it?

 

All hands on deck for hoisting the duff batteries overboard

 

That’s about it for now really, the Sunday Lunch on Wednesday was a culinary triumph as expected and we spent the evening Zapping mosquitoes and partaking of a glass or two of red wine.

            Today to celebrate Tommy’s birthday we will fit the new batteries, tighten up the stern gland, test the battery charger, get the boat lifted, cleaned and re-anoded, if that is even a word, and then re-launched. Oh, and after that it is off down town for a taste of Alligator as mentioned at the beginning of my musings, and the waitress had better make it snappy (sorry couldn’t resist that one).

 

   

USS North Carolina as the sun goes down on Memorial day and the Isabel Holmes bridge in Wilmington.

 

   

Sunset over our dock and a grumpy old bloke looks at the view

 

Watch this space for the next exciting episode from the adventures of Spectra………